15 years of the Digital Concert Hall: Highlights from members of the Berliner Philharmoniker

In the 2023/24 season, the Digital Concert Hall’s archive contained over 750 concerts – a treasure trove that not only documents the 15 years of its existence, but is also features historical productions. Stefan Dohr, principal horn of the Berliner Philharmoniker, is particularly fascinated by the recordings from the eras of Herbert von Karajan and Claudia Abbado. The performance of Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony from 1973 included in our playlist impresses not only with the conductor’s energetic interpretation but also with its very own visual production. The horn player also has special memories of a performance of Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, in which Sir Simon Rattle asked Stefan Dohr to play his solo part in the Scherzo standing in front of the orchestra.

For Matthew McDonald, principal double bass with the Berliner Philharmoniker, it is the absolute highlight in our archive: Johann Sebastian Bach’s St Matthew Passion, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle and staged in a simple but incredibly visually powerful way by Peter Sellars. In his first year with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado conducted Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 – a concert that for cellist Knut Weber is one of the orchestra’s finest moments. In addition to the performance included here, you can also find a documentary on this intensive encounter with the then new chief conductor in our film archive. Knut Weber also remembers well the time of the pandemic, when the Digital Concert Hall broadcast concerts to the world in front of rows of empty seats. For him, the performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s string quartets in his 2020 anniversary year remains a highlight. The same goes for the concert that the Berliner Philharmoniker and chief conductor Kirill Petrenko were able to give in front of an audience of 1,000 in 2021 as part of a pilot project in the Philharmonie – the long-awaited reunion with a performance of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony turned out to be an overwhelming event. Our playlist concludes with a late debut that horn player Sarah Willis counts among her favourite moments: at over 80 years old, Hollywood legend John Williams conducted his own works with the Philharmoniker – including the famous Imperial March from Star Wars.